recalled the prediction of the Indian,
and had a flash of second sight, and perceived that the third lord of
the manor was to be the last. Howbeit, he cleared his throat and set
black Sam to laying in fire-wood as for a siege, and Molly to righting
the disorder caused by the exodus; betook himself cellarward, and from
a hidden place drew forth a bottle of an old vintage, and comforted
his solitude. He was a snug, honest, discreet man of forty, was the
steward, slim but powerful, looking his office, besides knowing and
fulfilling it.

But, as the months passed, he became used to the solitude, and the
routine of life in the closed-up, memory-haunted old house took on a
certain charm. The living was snug enough in what parts of the mansion
the steward and his two servitors put to their own daily use. As for
the other parts, the great dark rooms and entrance-halls, we may be
sure that when the steward went the rounds, and especially after a
visit to the wine-cellar, he found them not so empty, but peopled with
the vague and shifting images of the many beings, young and old, who
had filled the house with life in brighter days. Then, if ever, did
noise of creaking stair or sound as of human breath, or, perchance,
momentary vision of flitting face against the dark, betray the present
ghost of some old-time habitue of the mansion.

When the raiding and foraging and marauding began in the county, the
manor-house was not molested. The partisan warfare had not yet reached
its magnitude. After the battle of White Plains in 1776, the British
had retained New York City, while the main American army, leaving a
small force above, had gone to New Jersey. Late in 1777, the British
main army, leaving New York garrisoned, had departed to contest with
the Americans for Philadelphia. Not until July, 1778, after Monmouth
battle, did the British main army return to New York, and the American
forces form the great arc, with their chief camp in upper West Chester
County. Then was great increase of foray and pillage. The manor-house
was of course exempt from harm at the hands of King's troops and Tory
raiders, while it was protected from American regulars by Washington's
policy against useless destruction, and from the marauding "Skinners"
by its nearness to the British lines and by the solidity of its walls,
doors, and shutters. Its gardens suffered, its picket fences and gate
fastenings were tampered with, its orchards prematurely plucked. But